Etymology

desperation

des·pe·ra·tion
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Today it means: The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. Full definition →

Middle English desperacion, desperacioun, desperation, disparacion, disperacion, disperacioun, dispiracioune, dysperacioun ← Middle French desperation ← Latin dēspērātiō, dēspērātiōnis
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromdēspērātiō, dēspērātiōnis
  2. Middle French · derived fromdesperation
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdesperacion, desperacioun, desperation, disparacion, disperacion, disperacioun, dispiracioune, dysperacioun
  4. English todaydesperation

From Middle English desperacion, desperacioun, desperation, disparacion, disperacion, disperacioun, dispiracioune, dysperacioun, from Middle French desperation and its etymon Latin dēspērātiō, dēspērātiōnis. By surface analysis, desperate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.